On Thu, 2 Jun 2011, Todd Cary wrote:
> To: CentOS mailing list <centos@xxxxxxxxxx>
> From: Todd Cary <todd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: How to format a USB drive?
>
>
>
> On 6/2/2011 10:17 AM, fred smith wrote:
>> On Thu, Jun 02, 2011 at 08:27:00AM -0700, Todd Cary wrote:
>>> I have a usb drive, /media/disk and I want to reformat it. There
>>> are several questions that come up:
>>>
>>> How can I determine the current format?
>>>
>>> Do I use the mkfs command?
>>>
>>> Many thanks...
>>>
>>> Todd
>> To throw a caveat into the works here:
>>
>> I was reading a while back some articles about the difficulties of
>> using flash drives, which for purposes of this discussion includes, so
>> I'm given to understand, not just SSDs but also usb flash devices.
>> It was pointed out there that many (if not all, may be all, for
>> all I know) of these devices are shipped with a specially tweaked
>> FAT file system (FAT, VFAT, Fat32, whatever the specifics were I
>> don't remember). These specially tweaked filesystems have been modified
>> to take into account characteristics of the flash device, such that
>> partitions may begin in odd places, or the FAT may have only one copy,
>> or may be of a restricted size or in an odd location. All to optimize
>> performance. Once you've reformatted it, you can never again revert
>> to the original condition (unless you've saved a bit-wise image of
>> it with, e.g., dd.)
>>
> Fortunately, I am using a HD; not a Thumb Drive.
> Thanks though...
Hi Todd.
And we all thought it *was* a USB flash drive?
Well I did, did anyone else?
Kind Regards,
Keith Roberts
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